Tracking the Landline's Demise

Some 22.9 percent of U.S. adults have a wireless phone at home but no landline, according to new data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. And the younger the generation, the more likely that is to be the case. Although every age bracket shows a move towards wireless-only use, nearly half of respondents in their 20s have already made the leap, according to the agency’s latest Health Interview Survey, which measures the July to December 2009 time frame.

Two of every nine adults live in wireless-only homes as compared to two out of every 17 in 2006.

Although wireless-only adoption rates for survey respondents decrease dramatically after the age of 35, every age group shows an increase in wireless adoption over prior-year surveys.

The number of unemployed and retired adults using only a wireless phone has doubled to 20.2 percent from 10.3 percent since the midpoint of 2006.

Even among households with both landline and wireless service, 25.7 percent of calls were on wireless telephones, and the CDC considers such households “wireless mostly” due to their increased reliance on cell phones. They account for 16.3 percent of all households, up from 14.4 percent in the first half of 2008.

And 75 percent of those between the ages of 12 and 17 own a cell phone, up from the 45 percent in 2004. As these children reach adulthood, the trend will only continue — if not accelerate — to hasten the demise of the landline.